Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux

Transcription

Hyphen 52
Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux
association sans but lucratif | autumn 2013
CONTENTS
Hyphen 52
News from the Office
3
Leading article
5
Decision protocol
6
Study session: Conclusions of the working groups
8
Diplomas: Description of the projects (1st part)
17
The garden of wild bees
20
The allotment gardeners from Slovakia present themselves
21
The allotment gardeners from Austria present themselves
23
Great-Britain: Blackpool federation Allotment Associations and its reorganisation
25
Great-Britain: Efforts to develop allotment sites for the future(North-West)
27
Germany: The allotments in Schleswig-Holstein yesterday and today
30
Poland: The future of the allotments
Hyphen 52 | 2013 - News from the Office 2
Leading article
The European Year of Citizens 2013:
Allotment gardeners
united for Europe
Jean Kieffer
Jean Kieffer,
President of the Luxembourg
Society Gaart an Heem
After a time of instability and the Cold
War, the citizens of Europe have become closer than ever. Europe was
built and consolidated. Thanks to the
Schengen Agreement, we can travel
freely. Borders are no more than a
symbol for a place where two countries converge. Despite all the criticisms of the common currency, the
Euro has become a significant link
that facilitates the exchange of freight
and economic cooperation. Around 25
years ago the Berlin Wall was knocked
down. Nowadays we must take care
not to build new “internal walls”. To
this end, contact between European neighbours is needed more than
ever so that we can find our common
ground and learn to tolerate each other’s different characteristics.
And allotment gardeners have played
their part, however humble it may be.
In Europe we, as allotment gardeners,
share our love of the land and being
close to nature and the environment,
which not only leads to work and relaxation in the garden, but also creates
social contacts beyond the border of
the garden. We not only share gardening experience or successful methods,
but we also connect as humans. In
this way, important connections are
formed between people young and
old, native and foreign, as well as
between people of different race, religion and beliefs. In this way we have
noticed that it is simpler to overcome
problems and difficulties together, as
a common portrayal of interests can
open doors more easily.
in 1926, it is the biggest not-for-profit
organisation of 14 national societies of
allotment gardeners, with more than
three million families and allotment
gardeners. To paraphrase Mrs Reding’s words: “The allotment garden
movement is what the allotment gardeners make of it.”
“Europe is what its citizens make of
it. Europe is a fantastic adventure!
Everyone must make their opinion
count during the European Year of
Citizens and be aware of their European rights”, wrote the Vice President
of the European Commission, Viviane
Reding.
What matters for the local branches of our organisations also matters
on a national scale and, in an even
stronger way, in the wider community
of European allotment gardeners under the umbrella of the Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins
Familiaux. Founded in Luxembourg
The fate of allotment gardeners is currently being decided in Poland. There
have been long years of attempts to
reduce the legal protection of the allotment garden sites. All of the Office
International’s societies support the
Polish federation through a petition to
keep their legal protection.
Common activities allow us to attract
attention to the interests and needs
of fellow gardeners. The Office International speaks before the European
Commission and the Council of Europe to support the demands of the
European allotment gardeners. Because of this, the Office International
has also become this year a member
of the large pan-European organisation Europa Nostra.
Leading article
The important role of allotment gardens for the quality of life in urban
areas is underestimated by many
countries, even though studies have
proven it. Across Europe, allotment
gardeners work to protect nature and
the environment. The appreciation of
this should be increased significantly
to avoid allotment gardens falling victim too easily to town planning. This
has already been the case several
times in Luxembourg, even though
it has been admitted that allotment
gardens should be an integral part of
town planning.
We are adamant that allotment gardens deserve a more important place
in the eyes of town planners. This involves a better understanding of the
benefits of allotment gardens in society by local, national and European
decision-makers. A key part of this
is the public’s and the media’s per-
ception of allotment gardeners. It is
pleasing to see that over recent years
our movement is more and more often represented as a movement associated with the earth, with the aim of
maintaining and promoting biodiversity through gardens grown on the basis
of environmentally friendly methods
without pesticides.
Unfortunately we do not have a significant lobby in front of European bodies
like other environmental organisations. Nevertheless, we must succeed
in convincing politicians of our cause.
We must constantly remain in discussion with politicians and the media to
attract attention to our work in the interest of the community and our environment. The consultations at the Berlin seminar in August and the planned
congress in Utrecht help to draw up a
significant strategy for communication
and the future.
Decision protocol
Decision protocol of the general
assembly held in Berlin
on 22nd August, 2013
Were present: the federations of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland
Were absent: the federations of Finland, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden
1) C. ZIJDEVELD heartily welcomes
all the delegates.
2) N. FRANKE gives the necessary
information on the seminar.
3) Several topics are added to the
agenda, which is then adopted
with unanimity.
4) The amended decision protocol,
sent on 23rd April 2013, as well
as the report of the March general
assembly are adopted with unanimity.
5) W. HOENTGEN gives information
on the congress 2014 in Utrecht.
6) E. KONDRACKI gives information on the situation in Poland,
on the results already achieved
and the problems waiting to be
solved.
7) On proposal of the executive
board the general assembly decides with unanimity to grant the
diploma for innovative projects
to Bronfair Allotments and Cold
Barn Farm Allotments.
8) The delegates decide to conduct
an activity “Children and Nature”.
The target are children of parents
that are not allotment gardeners.
N. FRANKE will present a concept until November and then the
federations will be invited to send
in their ideas in order to carry out
the project together. The results
will be digitalized.
9) After discussion it is decided that
the Cost Action is a very important scientific project for us and
has to be supported in an optimal
way. People representing the Office always have to send in a written report.
10) A Vademecum for the keeping of
bees on the allotment sites has
been worked out. The national
federations are invited to add the
national specific literature and
links. The text will then be translated and put at the disposal of
the federations.
in the respective country. This
point will be dealt with by the executive board in November.
13) C. ZIJDEVELD informs on his
visit of the Norwegian allotment
gardens (Parsellhager) and the
discussion with their representatives. A decision on the requested affiliation is postponed until C.
ZIJDEVELD has met the Norwegian president.
14) It is decided with unanimity that
the Office will take part in the IGA
2017 in Berlin.
15) Following the problem raised by
the spam from China it is decided
to check if the name “Jardins-Familiaux” can be protected.
11) The federations have been informed in writing about the affiliation fees for 2014. They include
the automatic adaptation decided
in 2008.
12) Non-payment of the affiliation
fees by the Norwegian and Slovakian federation: Unanimously
the delegates decide to suspend
the application of article 28 of the
statutes until C. ZIJDEVELD had
a discussion with the Norwegian
president/committee respectively
W. WOHATSCHEK with the Slovakian federation on the situation
Study session
Deduction of an approach for
defining a strategy for the
International Office for the
congress 2014 in Utrecht
Ton THUIS
In Zurich and in Berlin we have intensively been dealing with the question
on how we can strengthen the position
of the allotment garden movement in
the future. In order to be able to do this
we have asked people from outside of
our movement for help, who have then
shown us our reflection in a mirror. It is
now our task to actually implement all
the suggestions to improve our image.
Next year, the results of the meetings
in Zurich and Berlin will have to lead to
a joint strategy. Within the frame of the
preparation of the international congress 2014 in Utrecht, we would like
to ask you to summarize the results of
the meetings in Zurich and Berlin in a
visual presentation.
As I mentioned already yesterday all
our members are invited to produce a
visual presentation for the international congress 2014 about the allotment
garden movement in their country in
form of a PowerPoint presentation, a
video film or a home video. The objective is to use audio and video means
to show how you want to draw the attention to the allotment garden movement.
I would like to emphasise once again
that the moderator Mr. Jack de Vries
has also designed a proposal, which
you can use as a starting point for the
presentation.
Imagine that the existence of the allotment gardens in your country, your
region or your city is in danger. You
are given five minutes at a political
gathering to show why the endangered gardens have to be protected.
You can use audio and video means
and decide which aspects you want to
focus on.
However, you should take into account that the message has to be
clearly understood by everyone despite language issues. The presentation should not exceed five minutes.
In Utrecht the auditorium offers a very
special cinema to show the presentations.
Study session
Mr Jack de Vries, who is one of the
best PR advisors in The Netherlands,
will, as the moderator of the workshop
provide tips and suggestions on the
basis of the presentations, which will
help us in our PR work in the future.
Might be that the presentations could
be published on the website of the Office in the section of the different affiliated federations.
In the last decades increased interest
could be noticed for allotment gardens
in various parts of Europe, but in particular in urban areas. However, in
these areas the already rare grounds
are more and more converted. This
is why it is important to more clearly
show the added value of the allotment
garden sites in a sustainable urban
development.
During the international congress
2014 in Utrecht we hope to add the
last pieces of the puzzle to determine
a joint strategy for the future.
The allotment garden associations of
Utrecht would be happy to welcome
you in 2014 on their allotment garden sites. Most of the allotment garden associations in Utrecht have an
active PR strategy and in addition to
gardening events they also organize
other activities on their sites. The associations in Utrecht would be happy
to exchange thoughts with you about
this in 2014.
I would be really happy to welcome
you all next year in Utrecht.
Diplomas
Netherlands: The association
Stadspark in Groningen
received the Office Diploma for
an ecological gardening
Stadspark is situated at its present location in the west of Groningen since
the sixties. The site has 205 gardens
all different in size.
In 2004 Stadspark started the road to
the National Quality Mark. This led to
beautiful four dots on the ladybird in
2012.
Stadspark has developed a considerable number of projects, for example:
• A butterfly garden with log book.
• Two toad pools
• A website with variety of information
about a natural gardening
• Guided walks, tree route,
wilderness
• Wild indigenous plants in the public
spaces
• Social activities that contribute
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to a group cohesion within the
association as well as stimulate
natural gardening
Organizing several workshops
Publishing information on natural
gardening in their own magazine
‘Het Groene Boekje’ (The Green
Book)
Promotional activities on local level
Diplomas
• A nature trail
• Dune garden and volunteer
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ornamental plants in a nature
garden near the toad pool
Information signs for visitors with
up-to-date information about
natural gardening
Tasty route through the park with 20
different types of fruit, nut and berry
plants
Name signs for plants in the
butterfly garden and along the tasty
route
Many benches for visitors
Wilderness with a bird lookout hut
Courses: making batboxes and
shelters for hedgehogs
Reuse of trimmings
Reuse of building materials
Exchange of building materials,
paving stones, furniture etc.
• Water saving toilet tanks, use of
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CFL
Over 40 different kinds of nesting
boxes suitable for swallows and
other birds, hedgehogs, bats etc.
Woodblocks for solitary bees and
insect heaps
Artificial hatcheries, nesting places,
shelters like stone heaps, dry stone
walls, wooded banks, branches
dead wood, heaps for grass snakes
Several lectures and films on
relevant subjects
Inventory of flora- and fauna on the
garden site
At this moment about 85% of the
member gardeners participate.
Diplomas
Germany: The allotment garden
association Neugrabener Moor
e. V. in Hamburg received the
diploma for an ecological
gardening
Neugrabener Moor’s
humid biotope
On the permanent allotment garden
site of around 10 hectares, the Neugrabener Moor e.V. society’s members
manage the Feuchtbiotop Neugrabener Moor nature trail (Feuchtbiotop
Neugrabener Moor’s humid biotope).
Because of the close proximity of the
Moorgürtel nature reserve, the huge
site designed as a park is characterised by a lot of greenery and a fauna
and flora typical of marshland.
A large number of animals live in the
surrounding storm drains and marshland that is rich in vegetation. It’s im-
possible not to hear the amphibians
like the marsh frog, pond frog and
grass frog.
Dragonflies, amphibians and small
fish have perfect living conditions. This
is equally true for a wide range of species of birds and other small animals.
The association members contribute
through different stations on the nature trail that maintain the biodiversity.
Elsewhere, they have also made the
site much more attractive for visitors
and people interested in allotment
gardens. The association has been
able to take a big step towards its goal
of forging a better understanding and
awareness of nature; not only among
its gardeners, visitors and walkers
from the large housing estates, but
also primary school classes and nursery groups.
Construction of the nature trail began
in 2004. It was opened in 2007 and is
made up of the following:
• A thatched cottage with a roof made
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of reeds, housing a stork’s nest as
well as a permanent place for beekeeping
An agricultural garden
A forest nature trail
A fruit tree walk
An insect house
Diplomas
The stations were mostly sponsored
by political parties, environmental
protection organisations, banks, businesses, organisations and federations. The association members’ contribution was the construction, upkeep
and maintenance work on the stations.
1. Agricultural garden
with a stork’s nest
The 650m2 agricultural garden is arranged in a traditional style with small
allotments. The allotments are in
boxed areas, and they are maintained
and grown by the members. Where
the paths meet there is a rose house,
which is being more and more overtaken by roses.
The rose house and the other frames
are built from galvanised steel. Elsewhere, the agricultural garden is separated from the car park by an embankment.
The stork’s house is a thatched cottage with a roof made of reeds. The
building serves various purposes:
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With the stork’s nest, the association has provided an incubation
place for the white storks in the
nature reserve. The nest has been
built on an oak post 10 metres high.
There are sufficient materials in the
surrounding area to build the nest,
so the nest can be repaired from
time to time. Although storks are
sometimes seen flying above the
site, none of them have made it
their home as yet. The association
is patient, because white storks often return to the nature reserve and
young storks search for places to
build a nest.
The pediment has an opening for
the bats and barn owls that are often found there.
On the side, an opportunity was
made available for the association’s
beekeeper to set up his boxes for
the bees. At the moment there are
10 swarms. Along with hives provided by three other beekeepers on the
•
two allotment garden sites, the bees
ensure that plants in the allotment
gardens and neighbouring private
gardens are sufficiently fertilised.
In the thatched cottage there are
tools for beekeeping and other
activities, so that it’s possible for
groups of children from the nursery
and primary school classes to have
biology lessons there.
2. Forest nature trail
A little gem on the site is the Erlenbruch. This marshland forest of approximately one hectare is mainly
formed of alder and birch.
The marshland’s typical flora has
spread thanks to unhindered growth.
Marshland herbs, rushes and strawflowers create the main landscape
along with trees.
A small old peat bog offers the perfect
habitat for amphibians.
So that this natural landscape is accessible to visitors without having to
change the soil and damage nature,
the association built a 162m wooden platoon on oak posts through the
Erlenbruch forest to create the forest
nature trail.
Through this forest nature trail, the visitors can see the plants and animals in
complete tranquillity. As in this case, it
is more about small rather than large
animals, so with a bit of patience you
can see intense animal life. It is therefore necessary to look closely. For this
reason, a wooden bench was erected
in a central place.
3. Insect house
With the insect house, the association
contributes to maintaining the biodiversity of the insect world.
Even if the insects take the opportunity to find shelter in the allotment
gardens, they will nevertheless find
many insect-friendly plants around the
insect house that are not really seen
as such in the allotment garden; notably nettles but also other bushes that
attract insects.
4. Fruit tree walk
In the fruit tree walk, trees that are specifically old species have been planted; trees that are worth looking after
and would otherwise be neglected in
a profit-driven culture. The association
members were guided on the topic by
a promotion for the Altes Land region.
Conclusion
The attractiveness of this site which
is always accessible has really increased. There are no unused plots.
The residents of the surrounding
housing estates have adopted the allotment garden site as their recreation
ground for walking and sporting activities. The nature trail stations complete
the association’s offering. Groups of
children from the nursery and primary school classes benefit from it by
learning about the environment. They
can also get to know and understand
the flora and fauna of this exceptional
place of nature.
In this location you can also see the
grass frog that was sponsored in 2008
by the Harburg constituency as part of
a campaign for biodiversity.
The involvement of the association’s
members was restricted to building
the wooden platoon. In no way did
they interfere with Erlenbruch’s natural processes.
Diplomas
Germany: The allotment garden
association “Dresden Altleuben
e.V.” in Dresden received the
diploma for social activities
Frank Hoffmann, 1st president
Facts
Founded: in 1912
Size: 6.8 hectares of which 5.9 hectares are gardens with 186 allotments.
Association facilities: Society house,
used as a restaurant open to the public, thematic garden with greenhouse.
Social initiatives: Accessible garden
for handicapped people for work therapy and recreation.
The Dresden Altleuben allotment garden association has one of the nicest garden sites in Dresden and is a
model example of allotment gardens.
The site is in countryside meadows,
at risk of rising water levels from the
“Altelbarm” of Dresden. It was nearly
80% flooded by the century’s highest
water levels in 2002. Through well-organised collaborative work by all of
the association’s gardeners and the
help of local partners, the partially destroyed site was rebuilt. This sense of
community has been maintained and
the association does this by taking
part each year in the public initiative to
clean the “Elbwiesen” meadows and,
above all, through the association’s
social interactions.
The allotment garden site is permanently open to the public and is a
popular place for excursions, not just
for patrons of the association’s restaurant.
The association regularly organises
parties and actively includes people
from the local area. Gift vouchers are
sent out and received by social services for children in need.
A financial arrangement is in place so
that socially disadvantaged families
can have an allotment. Where necessary, the association pays for the
content of the allotment and agrees
a staggered payment for the new tenants.
More and more young families with
children are among the tenants. This
is reflected in the layout of the gardens, which has been adapted for
children’s needs.
These children as well as groups from
the nursery school and pupils from the
primary school learn about protecting
plants and nature through the thematic garden. In particular, the “see-touchsmell-taste” activity is very popular.
Diplomas
In order to help older gardening
friends to use their allotment until an
advanced age, support measures between neighbours and relief of general
duties are arranged.
To support a local care institution’s
needs the association has equipped
an allotment garden plot so that it is
accessible for handicapped people,
with a shed, toilets and parterres. It
has allocated that allotment to the
institution so that it can be used as a
therapeutic garden.
Many people of foreign origin also became member of the association and
enrich the social life. They are actively
integrated into the association’s activities and contribute positively to the development of allotment garden sites.
Diplomas
France: The Mazargues
allotment gardens in Marseille
received the Office diploma for
social activities
The Mazargues Gardens situated
on the Joseph Aiguier site are part
of the city of Marseille’s historical
heritage. They were created thanks
to the generosity of Joseph Aiguier,
who left a profound mark on this part
of Marseille. In 1905, he founded the
“Oeuvre des Jardins de Familles” (Allotment Garden Association).
The Mazargues Gardens are the only
one of their kind in France. In fact, it’s
the only allotment garden site that has
a climatic spa, which was created to
fight tuberculosis; a disease which
was rife at that time. Consequently,
the gardens deserve to be protected
like the Cité Radieuse of Le Corbusier.
The gardens are in the process of being graded by the Potagers de France
association for their remarkable features.
With their 3.7 hectares of pinewood,
these gardens provide a greenbelt
for this area of the city as well as an
unrivalled reserve of biodiversity in
Marseille.
The Mazargues gardens allotment enable more than one hundred gardeners’ families to grow a large proportion
of the vegetables that they eat. The
economic benefits significantly contribute towards reducing our carbon
footprint and energy conservation particularly as the majority of gardeners
travel by foot to their garden.
The Mazargues Gardens welcome a
wide range of disabled people including those with reduced mobility, and
handicapped people in wheelchairs,
for whom gardening is an essential
activity to overcome their day-to-day
hardships.
The Mazargues Gardens are a place
for training and education. Children
are encouraged to learn and discover the rhythms of nature, how to work
soil, plant and animals lifecycles and
the real value of sustained work effort
and patience. Furthermore, who better
than gardeners have the opportunity
to have a varied, balanced diet with at
least five fruit and vegetables a day?
The climatic spa and the Mazargues
Gardens contribute to the physical
and mental health of both gardeners
and visitors. Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated the therapeutic
value of gardening.
Diplomas
At a time where our society has a tendency to become fragmented, the Mazargues Gardens is one way that allows the
social ties to be maintained and cross-generational interaction to take place.
Some of the gardeners are elderly and have worked on a
small plot of land for several decades. We believe that taking away this allotment garden in which they have accumulated so many memories would be to condemn them within
a very short time.
Diplomas
Cold Barn Farm Allotments
and their cooperation with
Abersychan School at
risk children
In 2010 Cold Barn Farm Allotments
received the Office diploma for social
activities. In fact the association was
dedicated to children and young people and helping them making a difference in their lives.
Meanwhile the project has been extended and improved in an innovative
way on the initiative of the youngsters.
Cold Barn farm allotments are working
closely with Abersychan comprehensive school and Torfaen youth service
on a project called ASDAN. The project aims to include young people who
find themselves close to exclusion
from school. A group of ten young
people come to Cold Barn Farm weekly and have recently started work on
the allotment extension. They have
done all the ground works and built the
new raised beds.
The young people are currently working on erecting an additional poly tunnel at the site. Although each young
person comes with there own issues
they are all engaging well and enjoying the gardening work. We have
learned that even the most disruptive
young people will work hard when given a leadership role and a project they
can be Hands on with. The school
teachers have noticed a marked improvement in the young people’s attendance and behaviour since they
started the project.
to use it in the allotments and youth
centre. Due to much interest from other community groups and community
allotments we now supply two allotments and the play and youth services with free willow. Our young people
harvest and also show other allotment
holders the many uses willow have on
an allotment site. We also use it for
arts and craft activities.
This summer the young people will
be building a bird hide from willow.
This has come from a big interest in
bird watching amongst our youth club
members. We have installed a very
busy bird feeding station that is attracting many different species.
Willow and bamboo plantations
We planted a willow and bamboo plantation on site 4 years ago with the view
actuality
Garden Hülptingen
Hans-Jürgen Sessner
The garden of
(wild) bees
By: Dr. Corinna Hölzer,
Veronika Ladewig, Cornelis Hemmer
Wild bees are not bees that live in the
wild, despite what many people think.
They are insects which, with more
than 700 species in central Europe
and around 200,000 species globally,
generate an incredible diversity of pollination. As opposed to the bees that
form colonies, they are – with the exception of bumblebees – solitary bees
and have a very different but just as
fascinating a life. Like bees living in
colonies, these wild bees are very important as pollinators of trees, flowers
and plants. Unfortunately in central
Europe alone, more than half of local
species are threatened by extinction.
However, it is very easy to help our
zealous friends the bees by creating
places for them to live and plants for
them to live off.
Habitats
Wild bees need a montage of very different habitats. Soil with little nutritional value with their typical plants is more
and more uncommon. However, more
than half of the species of bees make
their nest in the soil. So it is important
to mix between thick lawn, paving and
turned soil each year. Open spaces
Megachile
with soil that is light and unturned, covered with leaves, plant sprigs, moss,
small stones and twigs etc. In nature,
soil like this is found naturally. Only in
this way have the numerous species
of wild bees been able to make their
nests and protect themselves from
predators for more than millions of
years. Today we must make an effort
to recreate these natural surfaces.
What you can do:
Make habitats. A garden can be far
more than just a multi-coloured scenery for us! A garden for bees is also
actuality
pleasant to look at. As well as dahlias
with big flowers, begonias and geraniums, which are all completely uninteresting for bees, local plants with
an abundance of nectar and pollen
should have a place in the garden.
Places where these very useful wild
bees can build a nest can be found
in even the most cramped garden.
It’s about stone structures, untreated
wood, piles of leaves, sand, wild bushes and groves. These are good places
to lay eggs and shelter for a number
of insects, such as wild bees, but also
for amphibians and reptiles. In other
words, animals that live off the “parasites” found in gardens such as slugs,
caterpillars and lice.
Paths and covered areas are the
most expensive and most durable elements. It’s good to think hard about it.
Use natural stone, pebbles and planks
of wood or recyclable building material. Bark also makes a nice covering.
These structures help wild bees make
their nest, as more than half of their
species make their nest in the soil. If
you would like to have order in your
garden, you can use an artificial nesting box and have a small “wild corner”
in a part of your garden to welcome a
number of animals who will feel safe
there. Insect nesting boxes that you
Herb spiral
Corinna Hölzer
can buy have drilled holes but are only
suitable for around 14 of our species
of wild bees. Nevertheless, they are
useful for getting close to small pollinators and observing their activities in
amazement.
Food plants
Nurseries are delighted with their success in creating bushes whose flowers
keep getting bigger and more colourful. The dahlia’s big flowers are a true
pleasure to see. For bees, though, you
may as well replace them with plastic
flowers, as they can’t get to the bottom
and therefore to the nectar of these
double flowers. The extra leaves on
the flowers were developed by nurserymen from stamina, which means
that a number of double flowers no
longer have pollen and are of no interest to bees and other insects from
a food perspective. Other creations
like hybrids of forsythia or geranium
aren’t double-flowered but don’t produce nectar or pollen. Many wild bees
have established themselves over
thousands of years on “their” preferred
flowers and search for nectar and pollen there. What’s more, a number of
other plants can only be pollinated by
certain species of bumblebees or wild
bees – the plants and bees evolved
together and adapted to each other.
If the plant is missing, the bee is no
longer there and vice versa.
What you can do:
Allotment garden –
numerous herbs
Cornelis Hemmer
Think about local plants when you are
planning your garden! Wooded strips
can be much more than a green partition between neighbours. If you combine several bushes, you get a hedge
that has a different look each season
of the year; it feeds bees in spring and
produces fruits for you or animals in
autumn whilst offering places to nest.
The good old herb spiral is useful for
both bees and humans. Alongside
actuality
dill, chives and parsley, you can grow
a good 20 species or more to enrich
your cooking with herbs like rosemary,
hyssop and thyme, or use aniseed,
fennel, chamomile, sage or lemon
balm to make infusions. The majority
of these medicinal or seasoning herbs
like the sun and the warmth and prefer
poor soil. In places where these plants
flourish, you will soon find a wide variety of wild bees, butterflies and other
very different and useful insects. Build
the spiral with natural stones and a bit
of earth. At the bottom of the dry stone
wall it is more humid and shaded than
at the top, which allows different types
of plants to be considered.
If you have a large lawn that you can
also use for leisure activities, you can
nevertheless – and without depriving
yourself of these activities during the
summer – help the bees: in autumn
plant spring flower bulbs like crocuses, snowdrops, winter eranthe or
spring snowflakes underneath the
grass. Already in February or March
small purple, yellow and white flower
heads break through the earth and announce the arrival of spring. It’s unlikely in April that your children walk barefoot on the grass and therefore they
don’t run the risk of walking on a bumblebee that could sting them in fear of
its life. In summer, the bees are happy
if they discover a patch of wild flowers in your garden. Try to sew a mix
of native wild flowers along the path or
Andrena
fence. By leaving flowers,
daisies and dandelions a
few weeks longer, especially when plants aren’t
yet or no longer in flower, you have uncovered
a hub for bees and other
insects. Humans seek
order but nature likes (organised) disorder. Recognising the relationships
between these phenomena and rejoicing it gives
bees what they need; it
is the sense of the initiative called “Deutschland Decoratif hotel for wild bees
summt! Summen Sie Jürgen Schwandt
mit?” (Germany buzzes!
Are you going to buzz too?).Garden So think of bees in winter and leave a
competitions: “Der bienenfreundlich- few dead leaves on the ground or only
ste Garten gesucht!” (Search for the cut back your bushes in spring – animost bee-friendly garden) organised mals will appreciate you for it.
in Berlin and Frankfurt during this initiative show to what extent a natural For more information visit
garden can be aesthetic. They also www.deutschland-summt.de
show that there are still reserves and
lack of knowledge amongst gardeners/allotment gardeners with regards
to the needs of bees and their usefulness to humans. It is nevertheless
clear that a number of gardeners are
increasingly interested in these relationships and are very open to advice
so that their garden “buzzes”.
How do I prepare my garden for
winter without killing things?
It is a habit of many gardeners: they
prepare their garden for winter by getting rid of the last little dead leaf in the
bin. Not a single twig remains and the
bushes are cut back. Unfortunately,
this leaves the soil exposed and without protection during the winter. The
same goes for the inhabitants in or on
the soil. This isn’t the case in nature.
Insects, earthworms, hedgehogs,
toads, slow worms and other animals
always find enough dead leaves,
branches or holes in walls to shelter
from the cold during winter. Numerous wild bees are in need of protected
places in winter as a cocoon or adult
bee. If this isn’t the case, the field that
will flower in summer will be useless.
The allotment gardens in Europe
The allotment gardeners from
Slovakia present themselves
Structure
40 county committees, 1800
associations, 88,000 members
Allotment gardens
88,000 allotment gardens, with a size
between 250 and 400 sq metres
Administration
Voluntary work and paid employees
The Slovakian Federation was founded on 15th October 1957 and is based
in 817 02 Bratislava, Haulickova 34.
It unites 40 county committees and
1,800 associations. The organisation
as a whole includes 88,000 allotment
gardens. The size of an allotment garden varies between 250 and 400 sq
metres and the overall total of allotment gardens amounts to 5,700 ha.
Each allotment garden is connected to
a used water supply system and electricity is as well available. The annual
contribution for the central federation
amounts to 4 € per member.
The work for the federation is done
both on a voluntary basis and by paid
employees.
When transferring an allotment garden, the new tenant does not have to
pay a handover fee to his predecessor. The allotments are used as fruit
and vegetable gardens as well as recreation and flower gardens. There are
no regulations stipulating that a minimum of the plot must be used for fruit
and vegetables.
There are building restrictions on the
plot. Buildings can have a maximum
size of 40 sq metres and a cellar.
There are no limitations regarding the
building’s height.
There are many different types of
buildings, ranging from simple garden
sheds up to summer cottages where
the gardeners can live during the summer months. 50% of the allotment
gardens have a private toilet, 50%
use common toilets in the community
buildings.
In 1997 an allotment garden law (no
64/1997) was released which gave
the option to the allotment gardeners
to gain ownership of their allotments.
The government supports the allotment garden movement.
The Slovakian Federation offers many
different courses to its members.
The allotment gardeners from
Austria present themselves
Structure
5 country (Länder) federations, 385
associations, 39,400 members.
Allotment gardens
39,400 allotment gardens with an
average size of 350 sq metres established on leased land and privately
owned grounds.
Administration
Voluntary work and paid employees
by the central allotment garden federation.
Ownership
75% communal land owners, 17% private land owners, 8% land owned by
the allotment garden federation
The Zentralverband der Kleingärtner
und Siedler Österreichs is based in
A – 1020 Vienna, Simon-Wiesenthal-Gasse 2. It unites 5 independent
federations at Länder level with 385
allotment garden associations. The organisation as a whole includes 39,400
allotment gardens. The average size
of an allotment garden is 350 sq metres and the overall total of allotment
gardens amounts to 824 ha. Each allotment garden is connected to a water
supply and electricity is as well available. The average yearly rent is 1.02 €
per sq metre. The annual contribution
for the central federation amounts to
5.66 € per member.
The allotment gardens exist both on
leased land as well as on privately
owned land. 75 % are owned by the
communal authorities, 17 % by private
landlords and 8% are owned directly
by the central allotment garden feder-
ation. At the end of the lease, the new
tenant must pay his predecessor an
average hand over fee of 30,000 € in
the Länder and 120,000 € in Vienna.
The use of the land as allotment garden is obligatory. The allotment garden use has to cover 2/3 of the plot.
The work for the federation is done on
voluntary basis. The central federation
itself has however paid employees besides the people working on voluntary
basis.
As far as the building restrictions on
the plot are concerned, there are differences between Vienna and the
other federal countries. In Vienna you
can – according to the urban planning
scheme – build allotment houses (35
sq metres with cellar and garret) or
allotment garden residences (50 sq
metres with cellar and garret). In the
other federal countries (Lower Austria,
Upper Austria, Salzburg and Styria)
you can only build a shed covering between 10 and 35 sq metres. In Vienna
you can use your allotment garden as
your main home if the category of the
urban planning scheme regulating the
land on which your plot is situated allows this use. In all the other federal
countries you can only stay occasionally in the garden overnight. All allotment gardens have electricity, drinking
water and have a private toilet. The effluent removal is done either by a connection to the public sewage system
or to a septic tank.
On the common parts of the allotment
garden sites more important buildings
can be built if they are necessary for
the functioning of the site. (community
buildings, tool sheds, restaurant).
Since 1958 there has been a federal
allotment garden law. It regulates the
lease terms, its restrictions, the rent,
the possibilities to terminate the rent
and the compensation to be paid, the
handover of allotment gardens as well
as the form of the accounts.
In Vienna and in Lower Austria there
are also specific laws concerning the
local allotment garden movement.
The central federation keeps its officials and members informed via its review „Kleingärtner” (allotment gardener) which is published eleven times a
year.
The central federation of allotment
gardeners also organises different
courses. We can quote for example
courses for obtaining a certificate of
aptitude, courses for technical advisers and courses for board members.
The courses for technical advisers
have been completely restructured in
2010 in order to guarantee in future
an adequate and up-to-date supply of
training.
Because the handover fee for allotment gardens is not precisely regu-
lated by the allotment garden law, the
allotment garden federation uses “taxation masters” or arbitrators who are
trained by the central federation. In
2009 new taxation masters for all federal countries were trained in courses
organised by the federation to ensure
that they all got the necessary knowledge in order to make the correct valuation in cases of a plot transfer.
The central federation of allotment
gardeners started a new project in the
gardening year 2011. The central federation has created so-called ecological kitchen gardens. (Öko-ErntelandParzellen) These ecological kitchen
gardens are no allotment gardens in
the usual sense of the word. The federation divided land into plots of approximately 70 sq metres. These plots
which are already planted with different types of vegetables are given for
a seasonal rent of 105 € to interested people. Because the first attempt
was such a great success the Austrian
Federation decided to offer more plots
like this in the following years.
Presentation of the European regional federations
Blackpool Federation
Allotment Associations and
its reorganisation
(Great-Britain North West)
Allotments and growing has increased
over the last few years and has become popular due to gardening programmes on National Television.
Clearly the days of cloth cap guys who
went down to the plot to get out of the
way of the wife for a couple of hours
peace has changed and allotments
have become more part of the community and a great hobby for all ages.
Blackpool federation was formed in the
mid 1990‘s following the closure of an
allotment site and this despite a fight.
With the fear that this may happen to
another of the boroughs allotments a
Federation was formed. This group of
people has become strong and working in partnership with the council has
ensured that all the available land for
allotments has been used.
In 2010 Blackpool Council approached the Chairman of the federation Andy Percival to discuss the allotment movement and the possibility of
becoming totally self-managed. At that
time the council did already pay some
sites to do basic maintenance like
cutting the grass and litter picking but
not all sites were paid and this clearly
wasn‘t fair.
Allotment sites were already attracting
funding from a wide range of external sources including the Big Lottery
which was help to fund toilets, car
parks, offices and welfare units on allotment. This was the start of improv-
ing allotments and bringing them into
the 21st Century.
The Federation met with the council to
agree a term of reference and commitment to work together and look at the
possible changes to total self management. The formal process although
slow sometimes has taken over 18
months to agree and by April 2012
Blackpool Federation became totally
self managed in running its own allotments leased from Blackpool Council.
There has been many hurdles to get
over from gathering the basic information on how much water costs per
year per site, to ensuring our tenant
database was correct, to looking at
external costs of running an office with
a computer, electric, telephone. Its key
is that the basic costs of taking on self
management have to be agreed and
calculated to ensure that the service
can continue to run and that the costs
are not just transferred to the plot holders.
A suitable location was found to establish an office with mains electric and
all the amenities needed to run a full
office. A computer database system
was invested in and slowly the transfer
to self management had started.
Meetings on each site had taken
place and the support was fantastic
and the safeguard of allotments would
be granted for the future. The council
helped provide a wide range of services prior to the changes and have
continued to be an active part of the
transfer over the last year.
operate the whole allotment service
involving invoice payments, site inspections, monthly meetings with federation representations from each site
and budget forecasting for the future.
Two trustees monitor the budgets and
costs versus income to ensure that the
service runs smooth and also to keep
the costs to our plot holders low.
Twelve months after the agreement
was signed and the handover happened the Federation have found that
the changes have gone very well and
there has been a large amount on interest from many other associations
and councils, several site visits have
been arranged so that other councils can see the professional service
which is now running. We have just issued our second year of invoices and
are very proud to keep the costs low to
all plot holders.
Jointly working together has seen all
our sites with toilet and welfare facilities, improved security with all sites
now fenced with secure gates to all
sites. A range of site events including
open days, summer fairs and local
fund raising events are taking place.
While we understand that self management is not always suitable for all
associations - and there has to be the
interest and commitment to work together with the council for such a project to be successful, - we have proven in Blackpool that continued joint
working involving the plot holders and
researching the facts has ensured and
safeguarded allotments for generations to come within our communities.
After full negotiation a signed agreement was reached in March 2012 and
a transfer date was agreed for Blackpool Federation to control the allotment service from 1st April 2012. The
first few months were hard as we all
adjusted to working in an office instead
of our plots and then trying to ensure
we had a work and plot life balance.
Blackpool Federation agreement is to
Efforts to develop allotment
sites for the future
(Great-Britain North-West)
Alan Hull, North West Mentor
Allotment Development Initiative,
National Allotment Society
Allotment
Development
Initiative
North West Mentors reports on work
for Cheshire West (CW) and Chester
Allotment Roadshow
Saturday the 13th April saw the North
West Counties NAS Region and the
Allotment
Development
Initiative
working together at a road-show in
central Chester for the benefit of the
allotment family.
An incidental meeting between a C
and CW plot-holder and myself the
ADI Mentor for the North West region
at Southport Flower Show led to a series of visits to the area that revealed
the need for some in-depth support
from the National Allotment Society.
What did I find?
• Many sites with no associations
• Sites had many problems with
•
•
councils
Councils had many problems with
sites
Very little funding obtained for
region.
• No federation in area.
• Some sites unorganized and not
•
interested
Very little national allotments society - membership - some had never
heard of us.
I felt that there was a great deal of development work to be done.
What did I do?
• Met with both Council Officers and
Sites with a view to bringing both
parties together for the benefit of
allotments in area.
• Offered help with the staging of a
•
•
•
Road-show to share information
and assess support for forming of
an Allotments Federation.
Held a Meeting with North West
Counties’ officers, where it was
agreed that they would all work
together to address problems in
the area; including sharing of good
practice at the Road-show.
Enlisted the excellent support of
a few allotment holders in region
who contacted sites and ensured a
healthy attendance at the Roadshow.
Agreed funding between NWC and
C and CW council for the event to
take place.
What was achieved on the day?
• 56 representatives from 25 sites
attended and worked together as
one allotment family
• The Council Officer gave an
update; some sites are being transferred to Parish Councils others to
Housing Associations.
• Advice was given to sites that need
to form associations.
• Good practice was shared i.e. sites
with associations thinking about
Self- Management were given
expert advice from Site Reps who
had already taken that step. The
support of the Legal advisor at the
NAS Head Office was recommended when signing a lease.
• Information was given about the
• The main success of the day was
the agreement to set up a Federation for the Region; this will enable
the Council to deal with one body
rather than 22 different sites.
• I am pleased to say the update
from the region states that 22 sites
have signed up to the Federation
with others showing interest. Also
some 6 new sites have joined the
National Allotment Society.
SUCCESS most certainly and we
hope to deliver more Road-shows in
the Region over coming months.
Mentor Report
I felt it was an excellent day - well
worth the time and effort, the most
pleasing aspect is being available to
help individual allotment holders wanting to develop their sites for the future.
benefits of joining the National
Allotment Society and the services
of the Allotment Development Initiative Mentors.
The allotments in
Schleswig-Holstein
yesterday and today
Hans-Dieter Schiller, President
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (in Low German
Schleswig-Holsteen, in Danish Slesvig-Holstein) has the motto of “Up
ewig ungedeelt” (forever undivided).
It is surrounded by the North Sea to
the West, the Baltic Sea and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the East, Hamburg and Lower Saxony to the South
and Denmark to the North.
The landscape of Schleswig-Holstein is outlined from East to West by
the Marsch, the high and low Geest
and the rolling landscape of Schleswig-Holstein.
The West coast is characterised by the
Wadden Sea, with numerous flooded
islets, before the Northern Friesland to
the North.
Schleswig-Holstein
has
around
35,000 allotment gardeners grouped
into 198 societies.
Our history
An organised allotment garden movement in Schleswig-Holstein started
with the creation of the gardens for the
poor in 1814.
As part of this, Pastor Schröder made
land from the pastures belonging to
the Scheunefeld church available to
the citizens of Kappeln who not yet
had a garden.
The total area was divided into 24
gardens with an average surface of 2
Schipp (1 Schipp 500 m2).
1 Schipp corresponds to a surface that
can be planted with 1 Schipp of seeds
= 25 pounds.
With the act establishing this small
group of 24 allotment gardens on the
Kappeln land also being designated
for “those interested in gardening”, the
first form of allotment garden association was born.
The conditions and clauses agreed in
the lease contract signed on the 28th
of April 1814 corresponds to the basic rules of the state law on allotment
gardens and today forms the basis
of the allotment garden movement in
Germany.
The Scheunefeld garden site still exists today.
In 2014 the Kappeln allotment garden
society will celebrate its 200th year of
existence, and it will start the festivities
on the 26th April 2014 with an undercover fair next to the “Kürbisklause”
society house.
In 1938, a number of names were
regrouped under the name Landesbund Schleswig-Holstein der Klein
gärtner. In 1945, the Reichsbund der
Kleingärtnervereine (federation of allotment garden societies) ceased to
exist in Germany. There was a new
foundation in 1947 with headquarters
in Lübeck. In 1948, the headquarters
were relocated to Kiel.
On 3rd February1947, the Land law
on allotment gardens was adopted as
a basis for the allotment garden movement in Schleswig-Holstein, and it was
replaced on the 1st of April 1983 by
the federal law on allotment gardens.
With the support of the government
of Schleswig-Holstein, the Land of
Schleswig-Holstein federation of allotment garden societies was given the
mission welcoming the thousands of
people chased from their home country and giving them an allotment as
a base for their new life. Because of
this, the number of 80,000 allotment
gardens in Schleswig-Holstein before
the Second World War increased to
reach 300,000 allotment gardens. On
1st January, 1950, Schleswig-Holstein
had 315,740 allotment gardens on an
area the size of 11,688.68 hectares,
with an average surface of 360 m2 per
allotment.
On the 1st of March 1947, the society’s magazine, Der Kleingärtner, was
published for the first time.
On the 11th November 1855, the horticultural society was created (Verein
für Gartenbau). It was presented as
a society with a trans-region vocation
and from that time forwards would extend across the practically unchanged
landscape of the Land Schleswig-Holstein.
Since 2007, the Landesbund Schleswig-Holstein der Kleingärtner e.V. society has been known as Landesverband
Schleswig-Holstein
der
Gartenfreunde e.V. and includes 15
regional societies with 197 societies
and 5 associated societies, totalling
33,586 members.
Our objectives and missions
The Landesverband Schleswig-Holstein der Gartenfreunde e.V. society is
the federation of the allotment garden
movement in Schleswig-Holstein, with
headquarters in Ellerhoop.
Our mission is to promote the allotment garden movement, to create the
basic conditions that allow a meaningful occupation, and let citizens
from all parts of the population relax
in the allotment gardens in their spare
time. We must attract the attention of
the public as to the importance of an
allotment garden and show the value
of the joy that gardening in nature can
bring.
A priority mission for our era is to
protect and maintain the existing allotment garden areas in urban areas. Because of continuing climate
change, urban areas have more need
than ever of these “green oases” that
make up public green spaces.
The allotment gardeners play an important role when it comes to protecting the environment and nature and
protecting our planet’s natural balance.
Allotment gardens must remain accessible to all parts of the population in
the future. For this reason, it is important to ensure and extend the environmental protection and town planning
aspects of the allotment garden movement and protect it. We must stop allotment garden areas from being converted. We must protect the long term
future of allotment gardens by law.
As a federation, we offer our member organisations and societies a
vast range of public relations. Targeted training is on offer, consisting of
strong, specialised, national training
that supports the societies’ specialist
advisors and sends additional messages for the numerous questions
concerning nature and environmental
protection. Competitions and events
in the organisations and societies contribute towards getting and promoting
the general public’s interest in the allotment garden movement.
Children are our future
We want to and must do everything
to create diversified habitats for our
children, in which they can develop
themselves positively. Our allotment
gardens constitute these diversified
spaces for learning and discovery.
Children can experience nature there
in a natural environment, feeling safe
and comfortable, and satisfy their
curiosity and love of adventure.
Integration as a mission for
the executive boards
Foreigners, immigrants or repatriates
– our towns’ populations have diversified. This is already and actively reflected in a number of our allotment
garden sites. Allotment gardens have
for a long time been a place of integration. Working together on a project, supporting it and organising it:
Newsletters, press releases, technical
evaluations, a website and e-newsletters form our internal communications
offering.
In conclusion
The modern day Landesverband
Schleswig-Holstein der Gartenfreunde
e.V. has kept its independence since
1855.
that makes allotment gardens a place
where, in spite of undeniable issues,
integration happens in an exemplary
fashion. The societies contribute significantly to communication between
generations, and to the integration of
different social and ethnic groups.
More than 1,100 volunteers in regional societies and associations look after
our community of allotment gardens
together in Schleswig-Holstein.
The Landesverband Schleswig-Holstein der Gartenfreunde e.V. is the
central federation and the communication centre.
Training, seminars and professional
guidance within the federations and
associations ensure a professional
and competent level of knowledge for
members and specialist advisors.
The Landesverband Schleswig-Holstein der Gartenfreunde e.V is seen
as a service provider for allotment
gardeners and its members, and is
in constant contact with its associated organisations, the Bundesverband
Deutscher Gartenfreunde e.V. At
a local level, it is in contact with the
mayors and presidents of regional
communities, colleges, ministers and
environmental protection organisations.
Two-way information and personal
contact create a trusting partnership.
For this reason, the Landesverband
Schleswig-Holstein der Gartenfreunde
e.V has an office at Thiensen 16, D25373 Ellerhoop. Tel. 0451-7068360.
Public relations are very important:
for this, we use the society’s publications “Der Gartenfreund” and “Der
Fachberater”.
From a horticultural society (Verein für
Gartenbau), it became a central society and the allotment gardeners’ society of Landesbund Schleswig-Holstein
der Kleingärtner e.V., and today it is
the Landesverband Schleswig-Holstein der Gartenfreunde e.V. It has
survived all of the battles of war, and
today it is an essential part of the allotment garden movement in Schleswig-Holstein.
The Landesverband Schleswig-Holstein now has a modern profile. It is
seen as open, tolerant and committed.
Voluntary work is whole heartedly appreciated.
Federal law on allotment gardens
(Bundeskleingartengesetz) is interpreted according to the needs of our
era. The law’s value and contents are
essential for the security and continuity of the allotment garden movement
in the German Federal Republic.
Information from the federations
The future of the allotments
in Poland
Eugenius Kondracki, President of the PZD
Prime Minister TUSK meets the allotment gardeners on an allotment site
Today, the future of over 115 years of
allotment gardening in Poland is seriously threatened. The Constitutional
Court challenged the system of organisation and legal functioning of the
Polish allotment gardens. In particular,
it questioned the basis of the Polish
Allotment Garden Federation (PZD),
which is currently an association of
around one million Polish allotment
gardeners. Our Federation which was
established in 1981 based on a law,
which unified in the PZD the allotment
gardeners of the allotment sites operating in Poland at that time. In 2005,
Parliament passed a law on family allotments, which became the new legal
basis for the functioning of the PZD.
Over the last 30 years the Federation
has been successfully developing
and strengthening allotment gardening in Poland. It should be said that
in the early years of its operation, the
land area for new allotments grew by
14,500 hectares and 360,000 families received an allotment. Thanks to
the Federation, there are now nearly
5000 well-managed allotment sites in
Poland with nearly one million allotment users and their families. Today
the PZD is a strong, independent and
self-governing social organisation,
operating mainly on the basis of the
social work of more than 100,000 activists. The great achievements and
traditions of the Federation are widely appreciated in society. At the same
time for more than 20 years, the PZD
has been an active and full member of
the International Office of Allotments
and Leisure Garden Societies.
governments, who are the owners of
the land occupied by allotments. In
its judgment, the Polish Parliament is
required to pass a new legislation by
21st January, 2014. Otherwise, the
Federation will lose its legal existence,
and, as a result, property rights to the
land and infrastructure of all family allotments will expire, which at the same
time will deprive the allotment users
of their rights to use the land. Such a
situation would mean ruining the over
115-year-old achievements of Polish
allotment gardening.
Today the Polish allotment gardening
movement is in the most serious crisis since its beginnings. This situation
is the result of the judgment of the
Constitutional Court of July 12, 2012,
which challenged the regulations governing the operation of the PZD. The
reasons behind the Court’s judgement
ground on the opinion that PZD owns
a monopoly over the conducting of
family allotments and the Federation’s
right to the gardens excessively limits the powers of the state and local
Therefore, the allotment gardeners
did not wait for the politicians’ initiative. Within the Federation they independently developed and brought
to Parliament a civil draft of a bill on
family allotments. This project not only
meets the requirements of the Constitutional Court, but also retains the
property and organisational rights of
the allotment gardeners, which will ensure the existence and development
of the Polish allotments. At the same
time the project meets the expecta-
Informationen aus den Verbänden
Picket of the Polish allotment gardeners
tions of the allotment gardeners and
society, to which more than 924,000
signatures under this project provide
great testimony. The actual support is
even larger, as it was also expressed
in thousands of appeals, petitions and
other individual and collective speeches.
It would seem that such great support
is the best indication of what solution
should be adopted to ensure the future
of the functioning of allotment gardens
in Poland. Unfortunately, other drafts
for a new law have been put forward,
in which some political parties, including the ruling party, are enforcing the
demands to eliminate the independent
and self-governing social organisation,
which is the PZD, and the nationalisation and municipalisation of its assets
(without compensation), which would
dramatically worsen the legal situation
of the individual allotment gardeners.
Huge concerns are raised especially
by the threat of expiration of property
rights of PZD and allotment gardeners, which currently are the basis for
the functioning of almost 5000 allotments sites and the use of the land
by nearly one million Polish families.
Therefore, in contrast to other legal
proposals, the main objective of the
civil project is to preserve those rights
because this is crucial to maintaining
the further existence and development
of allotment gardening in Poland.
was the consensus of the members
of the ruling party in recognising this
project as the leading one in further
parliamentary work.
The General Assembly of the International Office also expressed their
view on this matter, which took a clear
position in support of the civil draft
and called on the authorities to adopt
it. Also, hundreds of European allotment gardeners sent their petitions
supporting the civil draft to the Polish
authorities. Unfortunately, so far this
important voice has also been ignored
by the political environment, which
aims to radically weaken the allotment
movement in Poland.
Despite this turn of events, Polish allotment gardeners do not remain passive. They continue to actively support
their project, so that the Prime Minister’s promises will be fully put into
practice. They also hope that they will
still be able to count on the support of
their European friends. This support is
extremely valuable and especially appreciated by Polish allotment gardeners who are grateful for their support
and solidarity in the fight to save the
over 115-year-old allotment movement in Poland.
Therefore, Polish allotment gardeners took more decisive actions and
throughout the country they organised
pickets at the offices of MPs hostile to
the project, and then big rallies at the
offices of public authorities. In Warsaw,
the allotment gardeners were protesting under the Prime Minister’s Office,
who received the delegation and listened to their demands. As a result
of these activities the Prime Minister
met with allotment gardeners in one of
Warsaw‘s allotments and declared his
support for the main demands in the
civil draft. The effect of this declaration
CONTENTS
Hyphen 52
33
Council of Europe: Landscape and transfrontier co-operation
- Identifying trans-border landscapes (extracts)
Hyphen 52 | 2013- Council of Europe 32
Council of Europe:
Landscape and transfrontier co-operation
Council of Europe: Identifying
trans-border landscapes (extracts)
Arthur Spiegler, Ecovast
Austria, Vienna, Austria
Gernot Stöglehner,
University of National
Ressources and Applied Life
Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Introductory remarks
In July 2006, the First Interreg Landscape Symposium was held in Pernegg, Austria, as a joint initiative of the
University of Natural Resources and
Applied Life Sciences of Vienna, the
Southern Bohemian University Budvar, Ecovast Austria and Ecovast International. The main aim of the three
day event was to discuss the problems of identifying landscapes that
extend across national borders and
to draw up solutions. The event dealt
with four crucial points of the European Landscape Convention: to identify
landscapes, involve local people in
this process, raise their awareness
and include landscape in education.
Identifying and appreciating
landscapes
Identifying landscape (units) is one
of the major targets of the European
Landscape Convention. The question is whether this only concerns experts or whether local and interested
lay people – if guided – can also be
involved. We are convinced that this
is possible. This is supported by the
results of the pedagogical research
(learning pyramid according to Bales).
Whereas only 5% of information that
is passed on to the public through
speeches, e.g. in meetings and information events, is remembered, and
10% of the contents of written infor-
mation, 50% is remembered from discussions and up to 80% when people
are active.
Active participation of the interested and concerned population during
landscape identification, the definition
of quality goals for the landscape,
and the elaboration of measures are
therefore essential for the implementation of the European Landscape
Convention’s landscape policy and
really leads to a higher appreciation of
landscapes and behavioural changes
which will facilitate landscape protection, management and planning. In
turn, people will be able to perceive
landscapes with more attention. In the
Council of Europe:
Landscape Symposium, it became
clear that state of the art methods of
landscape identification frequently do
not comply with these requirements.
To support successful implementation
of the European Landscape Convention, methodological approaches that
allow active public participation could
be developed and applied.
Developing and applying such methods is complex. There is common
agreement that landscapes are a
multi-sense experience depending on
people’s perception (which again has
to do with education). The dominating sense for landscape perception
is vision. But other senses are also
involved, for example hearing (wind
and water), feeling (heat, cold, humidity) or even taste when trying typical
local food.
One method designed for grass-roots
level work is the Ecovast landscape
identification method with its 10 layers. The basic layers (numbers 1-4)
refer to the naturally created constituents of landscape: surface geology,
climate, soil and landform. They are
those landscape elements that can
not be changed by humans or at least
not easily (in a short time). Numbers
7-10 are the landscape features created by people (e.g. houses and sett
lements), whilst numbers 5 and 6 are
hybrid features with essential natural
elements but seriously influenced and/
or changed by humans. To put if briefly: the basis of landscape is nature,
in which the “cultural elements” are
rooted. Yet to identify landscapes and
their character, both elements have to
be taken seriously, the natural and the
cultural.
At the Landscape Symposium, crossborder landscapes between Austria
and the Czech Republic were identified. Having tested this Ecovast method during a one day workshop, some
of its strengths and weaknesses were
pointed out, like the easy applicability and the holistic landscape characterisation on the one hand, and the
predetermination of landscape objectives through
the selection of identification criteria, on the other
hand. It has been concluded that most weaknesses can be overcome
when the group using
the method is guided by
an expert in landscape
protection, management
and planning.
The peculiarities of
transborder landscapes
It is only rarely that a border-line between different
authorities, e.g. national
borders, can be seen in
the real landscape, with
the exceptions of borders
that are marked by large
rivers, the foot line of hills or the ridge
of mountain chains. Landscapes tend
to extend such borders. But what do
you have to take into account when
dealing with trans-border landscapes?
Let us use the example of the “Wood
Quarter” in the north of Austria and its
Czech equivalent on the other side
of the state border, where the First
Interreg Landscape Symposium took
place:
• The
natural elements of the landscape and their visual impression
are almost the same on each side of
the border (the same geology, soil,
climate and land form, layers 1-4 of
the “matrix of Ecovast’s method to
identify landscapes)
• The land cover and the characteristic features and patterns of agriculture and forestry are also almost
the same (the “two-fold landscape”
dominated by the almost rhythmical
alternation of big clearances/fields
and areas of forest; you need a
trained eye to notice the differences
in details).
These six points (items 1-6 of the matrix) result in the fact that it will not be
possible to recognise the state border-line when looking at the landscape
from either Austria or the Czech Republic (this even includes to a certain
extent the “inlay of a karstic region”
around the famous cave “macocha”
north of Brno).
The personal experiences of landscape on both sides of the border are
not the same:
• There are differences in the fabric
of the settlements (e.g. in the Czech
Republic; almost every village – not
to mention small towns – has at
least one significant building from
“socialist times”, the so called “panelâk”; it is an interesting fact that
some architects have already begun
arguing that some of those “panelâk” should be put under monument conservation, as symbols of
their time).
• But what counts much more is that it
feels like being in a strange country
due to the totally different languages, giving the whole landscape experience a different quality.
• It is the same with the signs; they
are written in a different language
and do not look alike.
Council of Europe:
• Here is an additional difference that
applies to layer 10 “spirituality and
added value”. The Austrian people
living in the “Wood Quarter” identify
with the region and landscape; they
call themselves “Wood-Quarter”. In
the Czech Republic the landscape
has not been given a specific name
by the inhabitants; they do not identify themselves with the name of
their region or landscape. Only geo
graphers or spatial planners call the
region the “Moravian Uplands”.
Since it is agreed that landscape recognition is a holistic and sensual experience, account has to be taken of all
the impressions that add up to landscape perception, and not only those
confined to the eye.
So the challenge, when identifying
cross-border landscapes, is to choose
the appropriate line on the map when
working at European scale. The solution suggested to this problem (on
the map) is: draw the usual black line
surrounding the identified landscape
unit but add an additional broken and
thinner black line to the red line that
indicates the state border.
Involving local people
The Ecovast method of identifying
landscapes has been designed to
make a seemingly complicated matter
more understandable and enable the
involvement of local people. Ecovast
has had some good experiences with
this approach in various countries, and
dealing with various landscapes. The
hand-out for this method is an “open
source” for everybody and can be
downloaded free of charge at: www.
Ecvast.org. In the course of practising
this method, it became obvious that
dealing with landscape, particularly
landscape identification, has much to
do with education; in fact, it is a manner of education!
Therefore, Ecovast has started a pilot
project. From the beginning of 2009,
four selected (higher) schools of the
region “Wood Quarter” in Austria and
in the corresponding region in the
Czech Republic will start identifying
their surrounding landscapes in both
countries. If this project delivers good
results, this approach will be extended
to other parts of the “Wood Quarter”
and the neighbouring “Wine Quarter”.
Ideally, it might end with something
like a “Landscape Register” achieved
by local people and schools and other
educational organisations.
To avoid misinterpretation, two points
should be made clear from the beginning:
• The method and its results will
give a first rough but correct
alternative view and description
of the landscapes of a region or a
country, their character and names
on which further research can be
based if need be.
• This task should not be confused
with any wide scale or biotope
mapping.
Final remark
The identification of transborder landscapes requires intensive co-operation between nations implementing
the European Landscape Convention
at all levels of administration, scientific institutions, and the people living
in those landscapes. Ecovast hopes
to offer successful contributions with
the help of local people after carrying
out the intended cross-border school
project.
Article published in the review
FUTUROPA 02/2010
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Hyphen 52 | 2013
Impressum
Office International du Coin de Terre et
des Jardins Familiaux
association sans but lucratif
Anschrift: 20, rue de Bragance, L - 1255 Luxembourg
The Office online: www.jardins-familiaux.org
EXECUTIVE BOARD: Chris ZIJDEVELD (NL) President of the Office
Wilhelm WOHATSCHEK (A); President of the executive board
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Jean KIEFFER (L) treasurer
Malou WEIRICH (L) secretary general
AUDITORS : Preben JACOBSEN (DK),Allan REES (GB), Walter SCHAFFNER (CH),
SUBSTITUTE REVISOR: Lars OSCARSON (S)
GENERAL ASSEMBLY: The federations from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great-Britain,
Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland;
HYPHEN is published semi-annually by the Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux a.s.b.l.
Editor: Malou WEIRICH, Office International
Distribution: E-Mail by the Office International
Concept and realization: Zentralverband der Kleingärtner und Siedler Österreichs
Layout/DTP: Werbegrafik-Design Karin Mayerhofer, BeSch, Ing. Beate Scherer
Source of pictures:
The federations of Austria, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Poland, Slovakia, the foundation “Mensch und Umwelt” and the International Office
Date: 2013
Hyphen 52 | 2013

Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux

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